One In Four Consider Giving Up Season Tickets

Nearly one in four season ticket holders are considering cancelling their tickets and one in 10 are planning to share the cost with friends as recession fears bite football, according to new research from Virgin Money.

The Football Fans' Inflation Index, which has tracked match day costs since January 2006, shows excessive Premier League ticket prices may be putting fans off going to games as the credit crunch bites.

The survey found 24 per cent of season ticket holders are considering cancelling while almost one in 10 fans are considering sharing the cost of a season ticket with family and friends to save cash - a sure-fire way of causing arguments when that crucial game comes round!

Clubs most at risk include West Ham United, Blackburn and Newcastle United where as many as 37 per cent of season ticket holders are having second thoughts about renewing. Even fans of Premier League and European champions Manchester United are feeling the pinch with 36 per cent considering giving up season tickets.

However fans of Wigan are most likely to stay loyal - just 14 per cent are considering giving up their season tickets while 18 per cent of Stoke, Sunderland and West Brom fans are thinking of giving up season tickets.

Malcolm Clarke, chair of the Football Supporters' Federation, said: "Over the last 15 years ticket prices have consistently risen way above ordinary inflation and the industry may well now pay the price for its short-sightedness in allowing that to happen.

"The new TV deal means clubs receive an extra £900m between them, that's £30 for everyone attending a game. They could have afforded to let everybody in for free and still have the same income.

"Clubs will have to cut prices if they don't want to see banks of empty seats."

While this survey covers the English Premier League supporters in Scotland are experiencing similar issues and will be interested to read that MSP Frank McAveety is calling for SPL clubs to allocate free tickets for school kids. With 30,000 empty seats in the SPL every week the clubs certainly need to do something to draw in the next generation of supporter.

Comments

The club will HAVE to take notice of this, they surely cannot contemplate putting it up again. One of the main reason for my ST is the away credits, i get a general feeling over the grove that it's fashionable to say you have an Arsenal season ticket. This is reinforced by people leaving with 10minutes to go when there's only one goal in it and booing our own (hardly 'support').

The same survey last year showed 21% considering cancelling last season which didn't prevent them increasing prices for the current season. The atmosphere would seem to make it unlikely that they would go for an increase next season but I wouldn't expect a decrease either.

Well... you say that Amos, now i know your fiscally minded (not a dig) and would welcome your thoughts/knowledge. Didn't the board make some murmurs last year through justifying the increase down to inflation? Now we're experiencing and on our way to a fully blown depression which will inevitably have deflation in it's make up - why can't they decrease the prices?

The club did justify the last increase on the back of rising costs. Those costs probably won't reduce significantly next season. They could decrease prices but provided they can continue to fill the stadium at current levels that would just reduce revenues. It doesn't make much business sense. It isn't yet clear that we will experience deflation. At the moment we still have inflation just at a declining rate. The likelyhood is that the club will leave prices where they are and just offer more lower price seats on match by match basis if they are struggling to fill the stadium.

I know and completely agree re the likelyhood. Just wanted to bring up the inflation excuse. And there's no 2 ways about it in my mind that the club will struggle to fill the stadium going forward, there's inexcusable evidence of it this year already, wait til we finish outside the CL places.

Average attendances so far this season are 60,001 (99.2%) whereas last season for the whole year they were 60,070 (99.4%). As yet there is no real evidence of a decline of any significance. That may come of course as employment increases and depending on performances but it may not hit us quite as hard as it may some others.

I think that while we have 47000 people on the waiting list for a season ticket the prospect of price reductions is far off, regardless of the recession. What many season ticket holders don't seem to appreciate is that not being able to afford a season ticket is not a new thing and there will be many people grateful for this oppurtunity to get hold of a ST. (Not me, I'm in the can't afford it bracket, but then again I was before the recession!).
Interestingly though, Amos highlighted that last year 21% of people considered cancelling, I wonder how many actually did. Not many I guess as it's a long way to the back of the queue.

You're sounding a bit negative at the mo ribbons. I thought we played more convincingly this WE than Man U, Chelsea or Villa, although we all got the same result points wise. Regardless of what the morons in the press would have people believe, I think are star is rising whilst Villa (and dare I say Chelsea) are starting to look increasingly vulnerable. The fat lady hasn't even learned her lines yet!